Salvatore “Toto” D’Aquila (November 7, 1873 – October 10, 1928) was an early New York City Mafia Boss of what would later become known as the Gambino crime family.

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Early life and career

Salvatore D’Aquila was born on November 7, 1873 in Palermo, Sicily to Salvatore D’Aquila and his wife Provvidenza Gagliardo. D’Aquila emigrated to the United States in 1906 and became an early captain within the Morello crime family in East Harlem. D’Aquila was arrested in 1906 and in 1909; both times the charges were dropped. In 1910, boss of bosses Giuseppe “the Clutch Hand” Morello was imprisoned and Salvatore D’Aquila separated from the Morello family. D’Aquila formed his own crime family and was appointed the new boss of bosses. His crime family operated from East Harlem and the Bronx, where he rivaled the Morellos’.

D’Aquila expanded his crime family’s power into Brooklyn and southern Manhattan’s Lower East Side/Little Italy neighborhoods. The most prominent members of the D’Aquila family were Umberto Valenti, Alfred Mineo, Giuseppe Traina, and Frank Scalise. In 1920, after Giuseppe Morello was released from prison, D’Aquila tried to have him and his closest allies murdered. In 1925, D’Aquila moved back into the Bronx.

Death

On October 10, 1928, D’Aquila was shot dead on Avenue A in Manhattan, aged 54. After his murder, D’Aquila’s family was taken over by Alfred Mineo.

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