MOB TALK: On May 28, 2018 former consigliere of the Lucchese crime family, Christopher "Christie Tick" Furnari, Sr. died at his home in Staten Island, New York.
- mobtalk247
- Jun 2
- 8 min read
Updated: Jun 8
On May 28, 2018 former consigliere of the Lucchese crime family, Christopher "Christie Tick" Furnari, Sr. died at his home in Staten Island, New York. Furnari was born in New York City & served as consigliere until he was 1986 convicted on racketeering charges in the famous New York Mafia Commission case, where he was sentenced to 100 years in prison before being released in 2014, after serving almost 28 years. By the age 15, Furnari was managing his own loanshark operations in Brooklyn & Northern New Jersey. By 1943, at 19 years of age, Furnari had already served 2 prison terms, for armed robbery. Furnari was also sentenced to 15 to 30 years, after he & several other youths were arrested, with 3 girls in a car & charged with rape.
In 1956, Furnari was released from prison on parole. Furnari became an associate of Gaetano "Tommy 3-Finger Brown" Lucchese's crime family, through Furnari's connection with mobster Anthony "Tony Ducks" Corallo. During the late 1950s, Furnari became involved in illegal gambling & loansharking. Furnari soon became an influential member of the Brooklyn faction of the family & was earning $25k a day. In 1962, at the age of 38, Furnari became a “made man” in the Lucchese family. In 1964, Furnari became a caporegime. The Lucchese powerbase was traditionally in Manhattan & the Bronx, the family's birthplace; the family's 1st 3 bosses, Gaetano "Tom" Reina, Tommaso "Tommy" Gagliano, & Thomas “Tommy” Lucchese, were all from this area. In contrast, Furnari belonged to the less influential Brooklyn faction.
Furnari operated his crew in Bensonhurst at the 19th Hole, a nondescript bar & mob social club. His crew was involved in illegal gambling, loansharking, extortion, burglary, narcotics dealing, occasional murder contracts, & union & construction rackets. At this time, Furnari's criminal record included convictions for assault & sex offenses. Furnari controlled New York District Council 9, which represented 6k workers, who painted & decorated hotels, bridges, & subway stations in New York. Furnari managed the Council, through the union secretary & treasurer, James Bishop, & Bishop's associate, Frank Arnold. Bishop & Arnold would pick up cash payments from the contractors, who charged a 10% to 15% tax on all major commercial painting jobs, & passed the payments to Furnari.
The 19th Hole, Furnari's social club, was the hub of criminal activity in Bensonhurst. Mobsters from every New York crime family conducted business in the club & socialized over food & drink. In the mid-1960s, aspiring mobsters Vittorio "Vic" Amuso & Anthony "Gaspipe" Casso joined Furnari's crew. Furnari saw that both men could make money & were willing to use violence, if needed. Furnari put Amuso & Casso in charge of a large bookmaking operation & debt collecting operation. In 1967, family boss Thomas Lucchese died of a brain tumor, leaving the family to be run by an interim boss, Carmine "Mr. Gribbs" Tramunti. Lucchese's real successor, Anthony "Tony Ducks" Corallo, was convicted of bribery in 1967 & sentenced in 1968 to prison for 2 years. Tramunti served as acting boss, even after Corallo was released from prison in 1970. In 1973, with Tramunti's imprisonment, Corallo finally became the official Lucchese boss.
In the early 1970s the 5 Families of New York organized crime decided to "open the books', allowing a new generation of mob associates, to become “made guys.” Furnari immediately sponsored Amuso & Casso for family membership & then made them overseers of the "Bypass Gang", a highly successful burglary ring. During the 1970s & 1980s, the Bypass Gang reportedly stole 100s of millions of dollars in cash, jewelry, & other merchandise. In January 1972, Furnari backed & sanctioned the squad of armed robbers, who took the famed Pierre Hotel in Manhattan under siege & stole approximately $3 million in jewels & cash. The Pierre Hotel robbery stands as the largest unrecovered hotel robbery in history. The case was never solved, none of the perpetrators ever confessed to the heist, & only a diamond necklace valued at $780k was recovered. The 8 brazen armed robbers were Robert Comfort, Sammy Nalo, Donald “Tony The Greek” Frankos, Al Green, Ali Ben, Robert "Bobby" Germaine, & Al Visconti.
In 1980, Furnari was promoted to consigliere in the Lucchese family. He wanted Casso to take over as capo of the 19th Hole crew, but Casso declined & endorsed Amuso instead. Casso opted to become Furnari's aide; a consigliere is allowed to have 1 soldier work directly for him. Furnari now enjoyed enormous influence both within his own family, the other New York families, & crime families from other US cities. Furnari continued to oversee his criminal interests from the 19th Hole, but spent much of his time providing advice & mediation for family members, as well as settling disputes with the other families. Furnari reigned as 1 of New York's top Mafia bosses, throughout the early 1980s, until his 1985 racketeering indictment.
On February 25, 1985, Furnari was indicted in the Mafia Commission case, the most comprehensive RICO prosecution, brought against the mob at the time.
Furnari was indicted as a result of an FBI probe, that used undercover surveillance & bugging techniques against the mob leaders. The bug that snared Furnari, had been placed in Salvatore Avellino's Jaguar car. FBI surveillance recorded Corallo conducting business with Furnari & other family leaders. Pleading not guilty to the charges, Furnari was released on $1.75 million bail pending trial. In early 1986, while Furnari was awaiting the Commission trial, the Lucchese family uncovered a new, potentially lucrative racket. A Russian-American crime family, based in Brighton Beach in Brooklyn, run by Ukrainian immigrant Marat Balagula, had started to bootleg gasoline. By collecting gasoline taxes from customers & then not paying them to the government, Balagula was making very large profits. When Colombo crime family capo Michael Franzese started pressing Balagula for extortion payments, Balagula went to Furnari for help. Casso later reported on a meeting at the 19th Hole, in which Furnari told Balagula, “Here there's enough for everybody to be happy... to leave the table satisfied. What we must avoid is trouble between us & the other families. I propose to make a deal with the others, so there's no bad blood.... Meanwhile, we will send word out, that from now on you & your people are with the Lucchese family. No one will bother you. If anyone does bother you, come to us & Anthony will take care of it.”
As a result of the 19th Hole meeting, the 5 Families imposed a 2 cent per gallon "Family tax" on Balagula's bootlegging operation, which became their greatest moneymaker after drug trafficking. According to 1 former associate, The LCN reminded Marat of the apparatchiks in the Soviet Union. He thought as long as he gave them something, they would be valuable allies. Then all of a sudden he was at risk of being killed, if he couldn't pay to the penny. According to author Philip Carlo, It didn't take long for word on the street to reach the Russian underworld: Marat Balagula was paying off the Italians; Balagula was a punk; Balagula had no balls. Balagula's days were numbered. This, of course, was the beginning of serious trouble. Balagula did in fact have balls, he was a ruthless killer, when necessary, but he also was a smart diplomatic administrator & he knew that the combined, concerted force of the Italian crime families, would quickly wipe the newly arrived Russian competition off the proverbial map.
On June 12, 1986, 1 of Balagula's rivals, Russian-American gangster Vladimir Reznikov, entered Balagula's nightclub in Brighton Beach. Reznikov pushed a 9mm Beretta handgun against Balagula's skull & demanded $600k & a percentage of Balagula's rackets. After Balagula acceded to his demands, Reznikov told him, "Fuck with me & you're dead, you & your whole fucking family; I swear I'll fuck & kill your wife as you watch, you understand?" After Reznikov left the nightclub, Balagula suffered a massive heart attack. But he insisted on being treated at his home in Brighton Beach, where he felt safer. At home, Balagula asked Casso to come help him. Casso gave these instructions to Balagula, "Send word to Vladimir, that you have his money, that he should come to the club tomorrow. We'll take care of the rest." Casso also requested a photograph of Reznikov & a description of his car. The next day, Reznikov arrived at Balagula's nightclub, to pick up his money. Lucchese soldier Joseph Testa confronted Reznikov & fatally shot him. According to Casso, "After that, Marat didn't have any problems with other Russians."
In September 1986, Furnari went on trial in the famous New York Mafia Commission case, along with Corallo & underboss Salvatore "Tom Mix" Santoro. The charges included extortion & labor racketeering, within the construction industry & murder for hire, of former Bonanno crime family boss Carmine "Lilo" Galante. Galante had been gunned down on July 12, 1979, on the orders of the Commission. Some have argued that Furnari wasn't on the Commission then & had no connection with the Galante hit. But Furnari could not use this as a defense argument. By the fall of 1986, Corallo realized that he, Santoro, & Furnari would not only be convicted, but were facing sentences that would all but assure they would die in prison. Furnari persuaded Corallo, that either Amuso or Casso should become the new boss. At a meeting in Furnari's home, Furnari, Amuso, & Casso all agreed that Amuso should succeed Corallo as boss.
On November 19, 1986, Furnari was convicted on all counts, including the Galante murder. On January 13, 1987, Furnari was sentenced to 100 years in prison without parole & was fined $240k. With the imprisonment of Corallo & Furnari, Amuso became boss, & Casso became consigliere & later underboss. Peter "Fat Pete" Chiodo took over Furnari's Bensonhurst crew. In 1990, Amuso & Casso became fugitives, to avoid prosecution in the famous "Windows Case." In 1992, Amuso was captured & sentenced to life in prison. In 1993, Casso was also captured; but in 1994, he struck a deal with the government to testify against Furnari & other family leaders. In 1995, Furnari started challenging the "no parole" stipulation of his sentence in court. The government had previously revoked Casso's witness deal with prosecutors, & in 1996, Casso was sentenced to life in prison. Furnari's lawyers insisted that Casso's court testimony against Furnari was tainted. In July 2000, the 3rd Circuit Federal Court of Appeals ruled that the parole board officials had been denying Furnari's parole eligibility, on the tainted assertions of mob turncoat Casso.
But in 2001, the Bureau of Prisons National Appeal Board ruled that Furnari was a multiple murderer & was not eligible for parole, based on what some people considered to be Casso's discredited testimony. On February 15, 2006, Furnari filed a habeas corpus petition in District Court, claiming that the United States parole commission had improperly denied him parole. On June 20, 2007, the court denied his petition. Furnari was imprisoned in the Allenwood Medium Federal Correctional Institution (FCI) in Allenwood, Pennsylvania. His projected release date was November 24, 2044, effectively a life sentence. But since he was convicted before Congress eliminated parole for federal prisoners, he & his co-defendants became eligible for parole, in 1996. Furnari was the only defendant to be granted early release by the U.S. Parole Commission, most likely relating to the weak evidence behind his murder conviction. Furnari was released from a prison hospital in Minnesota, on September 19, 2014, after serving 28 years, ultimately dying of natural causes just over 4 years later.
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