The Tomato Salesman (Part 4)
The Fall of Carlos Marcello
September 1966.
Thirteen men descended on La Stella, an expensive Italian restaurant in the Forest Hills section of Queens, and took their places at a long table in the basement dining room.
At the head sat Michele Miranda, 75, twice charged with murder and twice cleared, whom the FBI named consigliere to one of the New York Mafia families.
Beside him sat Joseph Colombo and, next to Colombo, the tall, gaunt Carlo Gambino. Born in Palermo in 1902, Gambino would one day claim the title capo di tutti capi, boss of all Mafia bosses in America.
Carlos Marcello had come from New Orleans with his brother, Joseph, along with Santo Trafficante, the gruff leader of the Tampa branch of the syndicate.
They had ordered their drinks when New York police burst into the basement room and arrested all thirteen.
Each walked out on…
