Allie Boy’s hit a dead-end street.
Colombo crime family acting boss Alphonse “Allie Boy” Persico, 53, was convicted yesterday of ruthlessly murdering his underboss, William “Wild Bill” Cutolo in May 1999, to keep him from wresting power from the mob scion.
Persico, 53, son of longtime Colombo boss Carmine “The Snake” Persico, was convicted of the slaying along with underling John “Jackie” DeRoss, 70. Both face life in prison.
The cutthroat Colombo duo’s first trial ended in a hung jury last year. But assistant US attorneys John Buretta, Deborah Mayer and Jeffrey Goldberg – presenting new evidence and witnesses, including Cutolo’s wife and daughter – painted a damning scenario of the events surrounding the charismatic mobster’s mysterious disappearance on May 26, 1999.
Cutolo had opposed the Persico faction during the violent 1990s Colombo war. That was his first sin, prosecutors said.
When the Persicos prevailed, Cutolo was welcomed back into the fold as underboss – but not for long.
“By 1999, Billy Cutolo was stronger than ever. He was making big money. He had a big crew. But that wasn’t all. He had his eye on the throne. He had boss mentality,” Mayer said during closing arguments in the two-month trial in Central Islip, LI, federal court. When Allie Boy was arrested on a gun charge that year, he feared his 18-month jail stint would give Cutolo the opportunity to stage a coup.
“Cutolo was coming like a freight train . . . and [18 months] was plenty of time for Cutolo to steal the Persico dynasty. Alphonse Persico had to act,” Mayer said.
On the day of his disappearance, Persico and DeRoss lured Cutolo to a meeting in Brooklyn, had him killed, then had his body taken to a Lindenhurst, LI, marina and dumped in the Atlantic Ocean, prosecutors said.
At 6 a.m. the following morning, DeRoss suspiciously showed up at the Cutolo home and rifled through his business records, “greedily scavenging Cutolo’s house right after they killed him,” Mayer said.
A month later, Persico gave one of the killers $50,000 in cash for doing the dirty deed, prosecutors said.
Cutolo’s wife and daughter took the stand to describe how DeRoss threatened to hurt them and their families if they told investigators that they believed Persico ordered the hit.