THERESA FERRARA
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'Theresa Ferrara' (Milwaukee, Wisconsin 1952 – May 18 1979 Barnegat Inlet, Tom's River, New Jersey) was an Italian-American Lucchese crime family associate. She was the mistress of Tommy DeSimone, Jimmy Burke, Richard Eaton and Paul Vario who doubled as an informant for the FBI. She is portrayed in ''Goodfellas'' briefly as "Rosie" by Illeana Douglas. In the made for television movie "The Ten Million Dollar Getaway" Theressa is portrayed as "Theresa" by actress Karen Young.
'Theresa Ferrara' was born in 1952 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She was the daughter of Milwaukee Cosa Nostra don Samuel "To-To" Ferrara who immigrated to Milwaukee in the 1920s from Ferrara, Italy. Samuel earned his nickname because of his dimunative height and stature which he was called behind his back by fellow family members. Samuel controlled criminal interests that including gambling, smuggling and labor rackets in Milwaukee and Madison, Wisconsin, Fort Lauderdale, Florida and Las Vegas, Nevada. Although Ferrara was the don of the family, the family, including Samuel answered directly to the Chicago Outfit then ruled by Paul Ricca. Samuel's predecessor, Joseph Vallone "retired" from the La Cosa Nostra and announced him as the new boss. Theresa's father ruled from 1949 following Vallone's retirement up until November or December 1952. He led an unsuccessful reign of power. It is believed the prior to Ferrara's "retirement" that the made members of the Milwaukee Cosa Nostra deposed of Samuel by an anonymous vote. The evidence shows that his mob family members requested for the Chicago Outfit to have Ferrara resign as don. Her father was fortunate enough to be allowed to retire peacefully and allow his family to be taken over, and not murdered by his disgruntled and angered followers like other dons in the past. John Alioto would replaced her father as head of the Milwaukee crime family in late 1952 until 1961. Samuel Ferrara moves from Milwaukee after his retirement and settled in Tampa, Florida. He was the owner and manager of "''Dixie Amusements''" a juke box distributor corporation located at 702 West Columbus Drive in Tampa which was very successful. On October 31, 1960 following the gangland execution of Ferrara, whose suspected shooter was Angelo Bedami Senior who became the President, and associate of Florida mob boss Frank Diecidue, Manuel Gispert as Vice President. The business prospered finally going out of business in November 1985. At http://www.freeinfosociety.com/site.php?postnum=98&phpMyAdmin=af0f6b4465fe3f904426eaeb3dc0e3fa is an article on Jimmy Burke which shows a photo of Burke and Theresa together.
Theresa Ferrara with natural blonde hair, styled ala the actress Monique Van Vooren and was well tanned from frequent trips to theCaribbean. She was an Italian-American mob mistress and drug trafficker. She moved from Milwaukee to Ozone Park, Queens to pursue a career as a fashion model or actress. In or around 1972 Theresa became intimate with Tommy DeSimone who had been married for a long time to his wife Angela Spione. Theresa later associated with the mobster habituates of Robert's Lounge and stayed for a while at Henry Hill's The Suite becoming one of the many mistresses of Tommy DeSimone. She dealt small quantities of cocaine to Tommy DeSimone, Anthony Stabile, Louis Cafora and Henry Hill. In 1979 she moved into a thousand-dollar-a-month penthouse apartment in New York City she was known to have lived in a dumpy two-family duplex in South Ozone Park, Queens which neighbored the home of Thomas and his wife Angela to be closer to Thomas. She dealt in cocaine for which she was arrested for in 1977. She opened a mob-funded beauty salon in the 1970s located in Bellmore, Long Island.
Theresa Ferrara is not to be mistaken for Theressa Bovina, a childhood acquaintance of Henry Hill who was rescued by Peter "The Killer" Abbandante during an attempted mugging in 1966.
It is alleged that after Theresa met Richard Eaton through Thomas DeSimone at Robert's Lounge the two conspired to swindle the Lucchese crime family out of $250,000 of cocaine from Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 1978. Richard and Theresa also are suspected of later stealing some or a fair portion of the proceeds from the Lufthansa heist. None of this was ever able to be proven by the FBI.
Theresa began dealing small quantities of cocaine in 1970. She regularly supplied Henry Hill, Thomas DeSimone, Angelo Sepe, Anthony Stabile and Louis Cafora with cocaine and Quaaludes for their addictions. Theresa's cocaine dealing from her Bellmore, Long Island beauty salon led to her arrest in the summer of 1977, after she dealt to an undercover DEA agent. Faced with a lengthy jail sentence Theresa became a co-operating witness for the authorities. Her information was responsible for exposing a major cocaine deal on November 11, 1978. The Coast Guard and DEA agents confiscated thirty tons of cocaine at the New York Harbor on the Flushing, Queens waterfront although they were unable to capture any of the smugglers who were allegedly Paul Vario, Jimmy Burke and maybe Tom Monteleone. Paul Vario was furious at the undercover drug sting operation for which he invested $25,000 into with Jimmy Burke.
Two weeks following the disappearance and alleged murder of Martin Krugman on February 10, 1979 Theresa received an emergency phone call while working at her Bellmore, Long Island beauty salon and left to meet an unidentified individual at a nearby Long Island diner. Theresa had been concerned enough about the meeting to ask her nineteen-year-old niece Maria Sanacore to come looking for her at the diner if she did not return in fifteen minutes. Ferrara left behind her purse, the keys to her 1979 Chevrolet Corvette C3 and mink coat behind. The last words spoken to her cousin were, "I have a chance to make $10,000 dollars." On May 18, 1979 a dismembered female torso was found floating in the waters off Barnegat Inlet near Tom's River, New Jersey. An autopsy performed at the Toms River Community Hospital confirmed through breast augmentation surgery that the body was that of Theresa Ferrara's. No one was ever convicted of her murder.
It is suspected that through Henry Hill's conversations about Lufthansa heist suspects Richard Eaton and Theresa Ferrara with director Martin Scorsese during the production of Goodfellas influenced his future film ''The Grifters''. She shares character traits with the Anjelica Huston and Annette Benning characters.
★ AmericanMafia.com "26 Mafia Cities Milwaukee, WI" by Jay C. Ambler 2000
★ http://glasgowcrew.tripod.com/bosslist.html
★ ''Wiseguy: Life In A Mafia Family'' by Nicholas Pileggi
| Contents |
| Family's Mafia past |
| Biography |
| The Two Theresa's in Wiseguy |
| Alleged involvement in Lufthansa |
| Becoming a Co-operating Witness |
| Gruesome discovery |
| The Grifters |
| References |
Family's Mafia past
'Theresa Ferrara' was born in 1952 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She was the daughter of Milwaukee Cosa Nostra don Samuel "To-To" Ferrara who immigrated to Milwaukee in the 1920s from Ferrara, Italy. Samuel earned his nickname because of his dimunative height and stature which he was called behind his back by fellow family members. Samuel controlled criminal interests that including gambling, smuggling and labor rackets in Milwaukee and Madison, Wisconsin, Fort Lauderdale, Florida and Las Vegas, Nevada. Although Ferrara was the don of the family, the family, including Samuel answered directly to the Chicago Outfit then ruled by Paul Ricca. Samuel's predecessor, Joseph Vallone "retired" from the La Cosa Nostra and announced him as the new boss. Theresa's father ruled from 1949 following Vallone's retirement up until November or December 1952. He led an unsuccessful reign of power. It is believed the prior to Ferrara's "retirement" that the made members of the Milwaukee Cosa Nostra deposed of Samuel by an anonymous vote. The evidence shows that his mob family members requested for the Chicago Outfit to have Ferrara resign as don. Her father was fortunate enough to be allowed to retire peacefully and allow his family to be taken over, and not murdered by his disgruntled and angered followers like other dons in the past. John Alioto would replaced her father as head of the Milwaukee crime family in late 1952 until 1961. Samuel Ferrara moves from Milwaukee after his retirement and settled in Tampa, Florida. He was the owner and manager of "''Dixie Amusements''" a juke box distributor corporation located at 702 West Columbus Drive in Tampa which was very successful. On October 31, 1960 following the gangland execution of Ferrara, whose suspected shooter was Angelo Bedami Senior who became the President, and associate of Florida mob boss Frank Diecidue, Manuel Gispert as Vice President. The business prospered finally going out of business in November 1985. At http://www.freeinfosociety.com/site.php?postnum=98&phpMyAdmin=af0f6b4465fe3f904426eaeb3dc0e3fa is an article on Jimmy Burke which shows a photo of Burke and Theresa together.
Biography
Theresa Ferrara with natural blonde hair, styled ala the actress Monique Van Vooren and was well tanned from frequent trips to theCaribbean. She was an Italian-American mob mistress and drug trafficker. She moved from Milwaukee to Ozone Park, Queens to pursue a career as a fashion model or actress. In or around 1972 Theresa became intimate with Tommy DeSimone who had been married for a long time to his wife Angela Spione. Theresa later associated with the mobster habituates of Robert's Lounge and stayed for a while at Henry Hill's The Suite becoming one of the many mistresses of Tommy DeSimone. She dealt small quantities of cocaine to Tommy DeSimone, Anthony Stabile, Louis Cafora and Henry Hill. In 1979 she moved into a thousand-dollar-a-month penthouse apartment in New York City she was known to have lived in a dumpy two-family duplex in South Ozone Park, Queens which neighbored the home of Thomas and his wife Angela to be closer to Thomas. She dealt in cocaine for which she was arrested for in 1977. She opened a mob-funded beauty salon in the 1970s located in Bellmore, Long Island.
The Two Theresa's in Wiseguy
Theresa Ferrara is not to be mistaken for Theressa Bovina, a childhood acquaintance of Henry Hill who was rescued by Peter "The Killer" Abbandante during an attempted mugging in 1966.
Alleged involvement in Lufthansa
It is alleged that after Theresa met Richard Eaton through Thomas DeSimone at Robert's Lounge the two conspired to swindle the Lucchese crime family out of $250,000 of cocaine from Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 1978. Richard and Theresa also are suspected of later stealing some or a fair portion of the proceeds from the Lufthansa heist. None of this was ever able to be proven by the FBI.
Becoming a Co-operating Witness
Theresa began dealing small quantities of cocaine in 1970. She regularly supplied Henry Hill, Thomas DeSimone, Angelo Sepe, Anthony Stabile and Louis Cafora with cocaine and Quaaludes for their addictions. Theresa's cocaine dealing from her Bellmore, Long Island beauty salon led to her arrest in the summer of 1977, after she dealt to an undercover DEA agent. Faced with a lengthy jail sentence Theresa became a co-operating witness for the authorities. Her information was responsible for exposing a major cocaine deal on November 11, 1978. The Coast Guard and DEA agents confiscated thirty tons of cocaine at the New York Harbor on the Flushing, Queens waterfront although they were unable to capture any of the smugglers who were allegedly Paul Vario, Jimmy Burke and maybe Tom Monteleone. Paul Vario was furious at the undercover drug sting operation for which he invested $25,000 into with Jimmy Burke.
Gruesome discovery
Two weeks following the disappearance and alleged murder of Martin Krugman on February 10, 1979 Theresa received an emergency phone call while working at her Bellmore, Long Island beauty salon and left to meet an unidentified individual at a nearby Long Island diner. Theresa had been concerned enough about the meeting to ask her nineteen-year-old niece Maria Sanacore to come looking for her at the diner if she did not return in fifteen minutes. Ferrara left behind her purse, the keys to her 1979 Chevrolet Corvette C3 and mink coat behind. The last words spoken to her cousin were, "I have a chance to make $10,000 dollars." On May 18, 1979 a dismembered female torso was found floating in the waters off Barnegat Inlet near Tom's River, New Jersey. An autopsy performed at the Toms River Community Hospital confirmed through breast augmentation surgery that the body was that of Theresa Ferrara's. No one was ever convicted of her murder.
The Grifters
It is suspected that through Henry Hill's conversations about Lufthansa heist suspects Richard Eaton and Theresa Ferrara with director Martin Scorsese during the production of Goodfellas influenced his future film ''The Grifters''. She shares character traits with the Anjelica Huston and Annette Benning characters.
References
★ AmericanMafia.com "26 Mafia Cities Milwaukee, WI" by Jay C. Ambler 2000
★ http://glasgowcrew.tripod.com/bosslist.html
★ ''Wiseguy: Life In A Mafia Family'' by Nicholas Pileggi
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