THOMAS AGRO

'Thomas Agro' (akas: T.A., Tipp, Thomas Ambrosiano) was born on the Upper East Side of New York City. He was a gangster in the Gambino crime family. He is the brother-in-law of Paul Stanisci Jr. He confessed to Joseph Ianuzzi to the murders of Anthony DeSimone and Thomas DeSimone, whose murder would be graphically portrayed in Martin Scorsese's, movie ''Goodfellas'', where he is portrayed as "Vinnie" by the father of Martin Scorcese, Charles. Agro was never convicted of the DeSimone brother murders because Ianuzzi's tape recorder was off at the time.

Contents

Biography

References

Biography

Agro was married to a French-Laotian woman who had handled the liquor accounts for Regine's and "Club A". He had previously been married to a Puerto-Rican-Chinese woman named LuAnn Yaden. He became a made soldier in 1975 or 1976 and while he was never promoted above a street soldier level soldier, certain privileged relationships allowed for an unusual amount of communication between him and Paul Castellano. Agro had been sponsored for mob membership by Joe N. Gallo, the family's consigliere. He worked under Joseph Armone, one of Castellano's most trusted associates. Agro was a smiling pudgy little man always immaculately dressed and manicured. He wore a jet black toupee that was so sleek it reflected flashing disco lights creating bizarre effects of sparks coming out of Tommy's head .
Standing 5'5 he was a classic bully who was known to take genuine pleasure in beating up people. Since he was sickly as well as small, he always needed a couple of henchmen to hold his victims down so he could administer his punishment in safety. He was known to carry a pair of sharpened scissors on him at all times. A favorite method of Tommy's was to approach quite slowly with a knife, giving his pinioned victim ample time to urinate his pants before the stabbing would begin. Agro's attacks were more spontaneous than planned though. According the FBI Agro had a prescription for Lithium. Additionally he took medications for a lung ailment as well as two medications for heart problems (due to high blood pressure).
Agro had previously served time for bookmaking. By 1976 Agro was dividing his time between New York and Palm Beach County, Florida. It was in Florida that he tapped Joseph "Joe Dogs" Iannuzzi to act as his representative. Iannuzzi enjoyed the attention and respect he received when Agro was in down south. The two were known to hit all the top nightspots and engage in track betting. It was while at the tracks that Agro coined Iannuzzi's nickname "Joe Dogs".
Iannuzzi was given free reign to operate on behalf of Agro and by extension the Gambino crime family. Iannuzzi operated bookmaking and loansharking while engaging in the occasionally robbery and burglary. While Agro's sponsor into the Gambino criminal syndicate, Joe N. Gallo, visited Florida; Iannuzzi would often look after him.
The Agro/Iannuzzi relationship began to fizzle in 1980. Agro had previously lent Ianuzzi a sizeable amount of money to be used to facilitate a loanshark book. Ianuzzi was to pay Agro several percentage basis points (commonly referred to as ''points'') a week. Ianuzzi would then lend offer loans to fellow criminals and gamblers at several additional points. The difference or the 'spread' would be for Iannuzzi's pockets. Oftentimes Ianuzzi would hold several weeks or months worth of interest (or ''vig'' as it is known in mafia vernacular), delivering it to Agro when he visited New York. Other times Agro would visit Iannuzzi in Florida to collect the interest. Agro had plans to invest the illegal interest into legitimate businesses.
After failing to deliver several months worth of interest and snubbing Agro while visiting New York, Agro paid Ianuzzi a visit at Don Ritz Pizzeria on Singer Island, Florida on January 19, 1981. The visit resulted in a severe beating received by Iannuzzi. Ianuzzi was near death but made a miraculous recovery, later working for the FBI in a case against the Florida mobsters.
As Agro had used a baseball bat during the incident the FBI agents appropriately dubbed the case Operation Home Run. In an unbelievable turn of events Agro welcomed Iannuzzi back to his fold. Iannuzzi paid the interest owed to Agro using funds furnished by the FBI. He also wore a hidden listening device taping hours of conversations with Agro and other mobsters operating in Florida. One tape detailed Agro in his own voice assuring Iannuzzi that the only reason he lived past day of the January attack was because the pizzeria owner's wife walked in and interrupted the moment.
Agro was prosecuted at one of the Home Run trials in Florida in 1984 and 1985 of loan sharking, extortion and attempted murder for which he was sentenced to fifteen years in a federal penitentiary. Agro went on the lam in and went to Quebec where his ex-wife LuAnn followed shortly after his escape from the law. They later moved to Nuns' Island where he deserted LuAnn for another woman, a half-Japanese woman named Ann Okcha. He was arrested by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in Quebec in 1984 . He was released from prison in 1986 due to an inoperable brain tumor and died the following year.

References

★ ''Boss of Bosses: The Fall of The Godfather: The FBI and Paul Castellano'', by Joseph F. O'Brien and Andris Kurins