The Bonanno family’s first-ever “made” canary sang to a Brooklyn federal jury yesterday – telling how the mobster who put undercover FBI agent Donnie Brasco on his crew begged to be killed quickly.
Before a packed house of federal agents – and eyeballed from the gallery by his son and his brother, who don’t condone his testimony – Frank Lino, 66, described how Dominick “Sonny Black” Napolitano, a Bonanno capo, died for having brought Brasco to his crew.
Lino spun the yarn while ratting out Bonanno boss Joseph Massino, who’s on trial for seven murders and a slew of racketeering raps.
Lino said Massino told him to set up Napolitano’s slaying a month after news of Brasco’s real identity reached the Bonannos.
Napolitano and other mobsters thought Brasco was a jewel thief.
But in real life, he was FBI agent Joseph Pistone – and his six years of undercover work helped convict dozens of mobsters, brought the Bonanno family into disarray, and inspired a movie starring Johnny Depp and Al Pacino.
In August 1981, Lino said, he brought Napolitano to the basement of a house on Staten Island. Napolitano thought he was going to a meeting – but when a door was locked behind him as he headed down the stairs, “Sonny knew something was wrong,” Lino said.
“I grabbed him by the shoulder, and I threw him down the steps.”
In the basement were Lino’s cousin, Robert Lino Sr., and the home’s owner, Ronald “Monkey Man” Filocomo.
Robert Lino Sr. shot Napolitano. When he tried to shoot again, his gun jammed, Frank Lino testified.
Napolitano begged his ex-partners in crime to finish him off: “Hit me one more time. Make it good.”
Frank Lino’s voice choked and his eyes welled up with tears when he testified about the killings months earlier of three mobster pals.
The slayings were depicted in the movie “Donnie Brasco” – but Frank Lino was the first eyewitness to describe them in court. Alphonse “Sonny Red” Indelicato, Philip “Philly Lucky” Giaccone and Dominick “Big Trin” Trinchera were murdered on May 5, 1981, in Brooklyn.
That night, the men – who challenged Massino for control of the Bonanno family – were brought to a meeting in the basement of a Dyker Heights club run by Sammy “Bull” Gravano, Lino said.
Massino and some fellow mobsters awaited them.
Indelicato grabbed Massino’s arm as the two talked, Frank Lino said. And then, he said, “Two guys came down with hoods.”
Lino paused, covered his face with his hand, choked up and appeared to weep.
“They came down with hoods and shotguns.
“Big Trin went to charge them, and he got killed. He got shot . . . Big Trin fell right where they shot him.”